Redemption
by atakino-zane
Summary: Itachi shows up in the village of the leaf with no memory of the past four or five years. What will happen when he wants to atone for his crimes?
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This came out of an interesting conversation with one of my friends, so the idea gets a lot of its credit from him. I'm just working with it.**

**checks list of things I own Nope. Don't own the characters. I may like to think that I own a soul or two, but that's it.**

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The Hokage's office was dead silent, the tension as thick as if the whole room was filled entirely with jell-o. Every movement seemed to make it wriggle, too, just like the sugary food substance.

Tsunade ran her eyes up and down the one in question, and old, ex-Konaha ninja. He was surrounded by ANBU as a precaution, but it didn't really make him any safer. After all, he could have taken them out and escaped at any time. But he didn't. That was the part that puzzled her.

Her eyes drifted down the the official paper. It told her where they'd located him: the gates to the village.

She put down the paper._ Better to just ask him myself. _"What is your purpose here, Itachi Uchiha?"

His sharingan eyes, for some reason not activated (as they always were) looked out the window and into the town.

"I... don't know."

His hesitation added to her confusion. Earlier that day, he'd just walked into the village and let himself be captured, no fighting back.

She sighed and rested her head in her hands. "You have to have a reason for showing up in a place where you're a wanted criminal."

"What? A criminal?" He reeled backwards in uncharacteristic shock.

"Don't play dumb with me, Uchiha!" she stood up and glared at him. "I could have had you killed, but I didn't. Now tell me what your purpose here is."

"To tell you the truth," he said, pushing his air out of his face. "I don't remember. I was working ondeveloping a jutsu just yesterday, at least I think so -that part's kind of foggy. But something must have gone horribly wrong. It knocked me out, and when I woke up, I couldn't remember anything since I was twelve. I know the time passed, but I don't remember what happened. What did I do?"

Tsunade sat back down. This wasn't good. Here she had a wanted criminal in her office who didn't know he'd done anything and was just looking for answers. At least, according to him. How could she know if he was telling the truth or not? She could always test him...

"So I'd assume you came here looking for your family." She dug around in her desk, waiting for a response.

"Yes, naturally. I'd figured that I still lived here, although from the way you're acting, I don't think so any more."

"Your family is dead. All of them."

"What? All of them?! How...? What..? Who did it?" His sharingan activated and he looked down, fists clenched and shaking. "When I find out who did it..."

Tsunade prepared for the reaction. So far, he seemed believable. "You killed them. You're wanted for the murder of the entire Uchiha clan, minus Sasuke."

"I... did it?" He shut his eyes. "I must have had a reason, then. I'm sure." There was a bried pause. Tsunade would have given anything to know what was going on in that head. "Wait, you said Sasuke is still alive?"

Tsunade nodded. What was she going to do with this Uchiha?

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A cloud of smoke erupted as Sasuke threw a kunai through a Naruto clone. He pivoted around, knowing Naruto would have used the clone as a distraction so he could attack from behind. Sure enough, he had been right, and blocked the blonde's punch. The Sharingan eye glared at the blue one and Sasuke ducked quickly as he heard another clone (or maybe the origonal) attack from behind. Both were clones, in fact, and both dissappeared as quickly as they had been made.

Water splashed around his ankles; they were fighting on the water, a practice that Naruto had infact thought up. After all, it was a good idea to practice concentrating on many things at once. There was silence for a moment as the stream went by. Then Sasuke heard something.

He drew another kunai and turned around just as Naruto attacked again. He stopped the kunai just short of Naruto's throat, just as Naruto stopped in the same position.

_Damn, I'm still only equal to him!_ How could Sasuke ever hope to pass his brother in ability if Naruto was better? However, he heard a reasoning thought within his head. _He has improved a lot, you know. So being equal to him might not be a bad thing._

Naruto grinned his big, cheesy grin, and with that, the spar was over. They both put the kunai away and stepped back. Sasuke couldn't help but smile a little. Win, lose or tie, Naruto was always smiling.

The blonde took a step back, unzipped his coat and threw it on the shore a few meters away. Then, he dropped into the water. Sasuke shook his head. _Always has to try and make some sort of spectacular entrance or exit. _He began to take a step towards land when he felt a hand grab his anlke and pull him down.

Naruto's head splashed up out of the water. "Come on, Sasuke! The water's great!" Sasuke coughed up water, speaking at the same time.

"Idiot! If I wanted to jump in, I would have." He glared at his team mate and pushed himself out of the water. Just then, he heard Kakashi's voice near by.

"Enjoying a refreshing swim?"

"Hn." Kakashi probably knew very well that Sasuke wasn't enjoying it. He walked to the shore, wringing out his shirt as he went along.

"Whatcha doing here, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto as he came to shore as well.

"I'm here to get Sasuke. The hokage needs to speak to him."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. What could this be about? He nodded as he went with Kakashi.

_It's probably nothing, really. _

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**Well, there it is! First chapter in this story. Reviews appreciated! I had a hard time of it trying to keep Itachi in character, since the whole basis is him out of character. How did I do?**


	2. Chapter 2

When Anko walked into the Hokage's office to hand in some official papers pertaining to the next chuunin exams, she felt as if she was being watched. It was as if there was a pair of eyes following her. She shook it off as best she could and continued. However, after a few steps, she heard someone behind her. _No one sneaks up on Anko Mitarashi!_

Turning swiftly around, her papers scattering on the floor, she launched snakes out of her sleeves. They wrapped tightly around the "stalker", leaving him very little room to breath and even less to move. Pinning him against a wall, she surveyed him.

He looked a bit like the Uchiha kid, although he was taller and older, with marks under his eyes. He was wearing a simple black shirt with a high collar and dark pants.

"That wasn't very polite," he told her, struggling to get free. He paused for a moment, looking her over. She saw his eyes linger on her breasts, and then follow her hands all the way to her arms and along the snakes. "Say, have we met somewhere before? I think I recognize your snakes."

She glared at him. "No."

_He doesn't seem dangerous, _she thought to herself. After all, he hadn't tried to fight back or stopped her attack. _Hm... I need something to occupy my time with. _She winked at him, the snakes detaching from her arms, still holding on to him. "I'll leave you here for now... I have something to take care of."

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"WHAT?" Sasuke yelled, struggling to get free. Kakashi had pinned him down in anticipation of the younger Uchiha's reaction. "What do you mean he's BACK?!"

"I mean exactly what I said," Tsunade said. She sighed. _I shouldn't have told him already..._ "And let me finish. He claims that he has no memory of anything since he was about twelve. He has no memory of killing any of the Uchiha clan. And as far as we can figure out, he's telling the truth. His mind's certainly scrambled."

"Hmph," he said, stopping his struggle with Kakashi. Kakashi loosened his grip, but that was a mistake. Sasuke ripped himself away. "I'll KILL HIM!!" He charged for the door, but as he reached it, it was opened at the same time. His forehead made direct impact with the opening door and he bounced off, completely bewildered.

"What the hell?" Asked Anko as she walked into the scene. Kakashi took advantage of Sasuke's condition and held onto him tightly again. By the time he had cleared his head, he couldn't move and a dark purple bruise was just beginning to rise to the surface of his light skin.

"Just never mind. Those are the papers?" Tsunade got up from her desk and took the papers from Anko. Kakashi looked over to Tsunade and wondered what she was planning.

Anko nodded and went over to the door. "Now, if you excuse me, I have someone in the front hall that needs to be dealt with."

Tsunade looked at the purple haired woman strangely before realizing who she must mean. "Oh for pete's sake, just his presense cause's trouble, doesn't it?"

"You know him?"

Sasuke growled. Kakashi tightened his grip.

Tsunade nodded. "I see you've already become acquainted with Itachi Uchiha, Anko. He's the one I was talking about."

There was a thump as Sasuke had thrown Kakashi away, freeing himself. Tsunade could see a shifting black shadow from within the Uchiha's collar and knew they were in for trouble.

Anko seemed to have seen it, too, and knowing what it meant, used her snakes to trip Sasuke. His sharingan burned angrily in his eyes as he ran for the door, but as concentrated as he was on finding Itachi, he didn't see them. Soon he, like his older brother, was wrapped in snakes.

"Seems to be sort of a trend today, Uchihas wrapped in snakes." She gave him a swift kick. "Now you, behave." She grinned sadistically. "Believe me; it's in your best interest."

Kakashi dusted himself off and receiving a nod for Tsunade to confirm, he went to get Itachi.

"Now, down to business." Said Tsunade, her hands on her hips. "Anko, you are to be in charge of Itachi. I'm not sure if he remembers how to do jutsu or not, but just be on the safe side."

Anko nodded.

"And Sasuke, I know you want to kill him, but lay off. Having to stay with Anko is a good enough punishment for him."

"Hmph."

Tsunade sighed. "If it comes to execution, you can be the one to do it, all right? Just stop trying to kill him; he doesn't even remember why he killed everyone, let alone doing it."

Anko smiled and clapped her hands together. "This is going to be fun!"


End file.
